Thomas D. Cairns, DBA

Tom Cairns, DBA, is a former senior vice president of human resources for NBC Universal and presidential appointee to Homeland Security under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He is the principal and chief career coach of Cairns Blaner Group, a consulting company focused on delivering career management strategies and services. He draws from his business, education, and government experience, where his hands-on approach and uncompromising integrity produced measurable results. He is known as a specialist in talent management, mergers and acquisitions, project management, leadership development, executive coaching, and strategic planning. In addition to teaching at APU, where he also led the field experience for APU’s Young Executive Master of Arts in Management cohort, Cairns has taught traditional and online graduate courses at Nova Southeastern University, The King’s University, and Southeastern University. Cairns has authored, co-authored, and presented numerous articles on human resource management and leadership and serves on the editorial advisory board for Employment Relations Today. He has been a local and national member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the American Society for Training and Development. He has also served as a board member for local nonprofit, community-based organizations and as a trustee and accreditation commissioner for educational institutions.